It was a strong belief in the benefits of a diet rich in high-energy food that drove Christian Mongendre to found Home – Eat to Live, a vegetarian restaurant located in the heart of Hong Kong’s central business district.

The 31-year-old Franco-American opened Home in May 2016, convinced that others like him shared his belief of the direct correlation between eating plant-based meals and the body’s ability to maximise its performance both temporarily and in the long run. He had previously co-founded the vegetarian cafe Mana! Fast Slow Food more than five years ago but left to pursue his own vision of sustainable healthy living.

Home feeds customers while educating them about the food they are served, such as where it comes from, what its life-giving properties are, and how it will benefit them over time. Its commitment extends to environmental responsibility, from highlighting the effect that food choices have on ecosystems to using biodegradable paper or corn-based packaging for takeouts.

Mongendre’s passion for healthy living began while competing as a varsity rower at Northeastern University in Boston. Though 6’1” tall, he was still shorter than his teammates, prompting him to adjust his diet to compensate and to improve performance. When his mother was later diagnosed with breast cancer, he moved back to France and researched the impact of food on diseases, digging deeper into the healing properties of the things we eat.

“My mom’s illness opened my eyes to the whole idea of eating for healing and how it can be used to fight a disease – even possibly reverse it in case of a full lifestyle change,” Mongendre says. “Many of our diseases come from the food that we eat, the air that we breathe, the water we drink, our stress levels and our happiness. By acquiring such information, along with my own self-tested experience over time, it became clear that I wanted to become a conscious and health-focused restaurateur. Our goal is to create a place you can go to eat high-quality ingredients in a positive, accessible, and affordable way.”

In France, Mongendre earned a double major in culinary arts and international hotel and restaurant management at the Institut Paul Bocuse, where he also completed a year in the masters’ programme.

The planning stage for Home began in December 2015 with Mongendre and his fiancée the only initial team members. He did not doubt the concept would be well-received by others like him, but the challenges were greater than those for his previous establishment – for example, having to manage a larger, 120-seat venue.

“If I went back to when I first started planning Home and thought about the whole project [as I know it now], it would have overwhelmed me. But every single day, I manage small pieces. So it’s important to know what you want to achieve and to trust yourself that every day you can handle whatever is thrown at you,” he says.

“To build your team, to hold the vision when nothing is real – that’s the challenge at the beginning. But as soon as things start to materialise, you can see it coming together. Then construction starts, the momentum builds, and the energy gets picked up by people and becomes a living and breathing vision way bigger than yourself.”

Another challenge has been try to make everyone understand the essence of what Home is doing. “We feel that we are contributing in a positive way to Hong Kong,” Mongendre says. “We strive to be a business conscious of its impact on the place in which it operates. We ask: how are we affecting the local community? How are we impacting everything around us?”

While many vegetarian restaurants promote healthy eating, fewer actively demonstrate the positive effect vegetarianism has animal welfare, ecosystems and grassroots farming.

“We try to create fun and inspiring ways to share the idea of animal welfare and the positive impact of eating a plant-based diet,” Mongendre says. “We name our dishes after endangered animals which kind of creates playfulness because you’re technically ordering animals that are not OK to eat in our current society. People’s livelihoods are also affected by the way we eat and the effect this has on natural habitats in the form of deforestation and plastics polluting the ocean.”

Mongendre says he and his team plan to expand the Home concept in Hong Kong soon.  The business model will be different, but will still contain the same elements that the inaugural restaurant offers: convenience, affordability and a focus on high-quality ingredients.

“Our belief system, the core of what we’re doing, remains the same,” he says. “By eating healthy plant-based food, and not eating meat even for just one meal, your positive impact on the planet is huge.” 

This article appeared in the Classified Post print edition as a picture of health.